He said: "Initially we had some complaints and my approach to that was actually to ring people up and talk to them about what we were trying to do and when we did that we found that actually they appreciated it.

"There were only two and they were from people involved with the military. One was from someone who lost their child out in Afghanistan, and I went to talk to these people and once we explained what we were trying to do they actually became very helpful to us and we learned a lot from them and from all the others we could talk to."

The eight-part series, which starts on BBC Three in March, features Green Wing actor Oliver Chris and Kelly as members of a British base clearing landmines and explosives from the Afghan countryside.

Stephen said he wanted the programme, which employed a former army bomb disposal expert on set to make it accurate, to show "the life that's lived by the human beings that do the work" and "to make it truthful to their experience".

Writer James Cary, who has worked on shows including Miranda and My Family, said the actors took their roles "incredibly seriously".